Loading AI tools
2016 live album by Kate Bush From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Before the Dawn is the second live album by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush, credited to The KT Fellowship. The album was released on 25 November 2016[12] by Bush's label Fish People, and is distributed in the United States by Concord Records. It was recorded in 2014 during Bush's sell-out 22-date residency, Before the Dawn, at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, which saw her return to the stage following a 35-year absence.
Before the Dawn | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Live album by | ||||
Released | 25 November 2016 | |||
Recorded | August–October 2014 | |||
Venue | Hammersmith Apollo (London) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 155:07 | |||
Label |
| |||
Producer | Kate Bush | |||
Kate Bush chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Before the Dawn | ||||
|
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 84/100[1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The A.V. Club | A−[3] |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Independent | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Mojo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Observer | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork | 8.5/10[8] |
Q | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Uncut | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The album has been certified Gold in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry.
As with the residency, the album is split into three parts, comprising seven miscellaneous songs, the complete Ninth Wave suite from Hounds of Love, and A Sky of Honey from Bush's 2005 release Aerial. Presented in the same order as the original show, the album's performances are culled from various shows throughout the residency.
Before the Dawn contains the song "Tawny Moon" performed by Bush's son, Albert McIntosh. It also includes the track "Never Be Mine", which did not feature on the Before the Dawn residency, but was recorded when the show was performed without an audience for the purposes of filming the production.
Following two years of speculation, the album, released as three-CD and four-record pressings, was officially announced on 29 September 2016; the track "Prologue" was also shared. Bush commented:
It was an extraordinary experience putting the show together. It was a huge amount of work, a lot of fun and an enormous privilege to work with such an incredibly talented team. This is the audio document. I hope that this can stand alone as a piece of music in its own right and that it can be enjoyed by people who knew nothing about the shows as well as those who were there. I never expected the overwhelming response of the audiences, every night filling the show with life and excitement. They are there in every beat of the recorded music. Even when you can't hear them, you can feel them.[13][14][15][16][17]
The track "Prologue (Live)" was made available for streaming on 28 September, before "King of the Mountain (Live)" was released as a promotional single on 21 October, and "And Dream of Sheep (Live)", along with an accompanying piece of film used during the concerts, was made available as the album's official single on 18 November 2016.[18][19]
In November 2018, Bush released box sets of remasters of her studio albums. Before the Dawn was included in the second box set, but was not remastered.
All songs written by Kate Bush, except "Astronomer's Call", "Waking the Witch", and "Watching Them Without Her", written with David Mitchell, and "Jig of Life" written with Bill Whelan and John Carder Bush.
Disc one: Act I
Disc two: Act II – The Ninth Wave
Disc three: Act III – A Sky of Honey
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI)[43] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.